Ancient Rome
According to legend, Romulus founded the city on April 21, 753 BC on the Palatine Hill — after he had slain his twin brother Remus. In reality, Rome grew from a collection of shepherd villages into a city that would rule the world.
Monarchy & Republic (753–27 BC)
Seven kings ruled Rome until the last — Tarquinius Superbus — was expelled in 509 BC. The Roman Republic was born: Senate, consuls, popular assemblies — a system that the founding fathers of the USA would copy 2,000 years later. In the following centuries, Rome first conquered Italy, then Carthage, Greece, Egypt, and the entire Mediterranean. The Carthaginian king Hannibal with his elephants, Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul and his assassination on the Ides of March (44 BC) — all this happened here.
Empire (27 BC – 476 AD)
Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD) transformed the Republic into an Empire and turned Rome from a city of bricks into a city of marble. The great emperors followed:
- Nero (54–68): (Probably) set Rome on fire and built the Domus Aurea for himself.
- Vespasian (69–79): Built the Colosseum — on the ruins of Nero's palace.
- Trajan (98–117): Expanded the empire to its maximum extent — from the Scottish Hadrian's Wall to the Persian Gulf.
- Hadrian (117–138): Built the Pantheon and the villa in Tivoli.
- Constantine (306–337): Legalized Christianity and moved the capital to Constantinople.
At its peak, the Roman Empire covered 5 million km² and 70 million people — a quarter of the world's population at the time. Rome itself had over a million inhabitants — a number Europe would not reach again until the 19th century.
